Her Majesty's Mercy
by Oparu
Summary: Unexpectedly pregnant with the Evil Queen's child, Maleficent has pursued every option to stop Regina from casting the Dark Curse. After her last appeal is rejected by the heroes, all that remains is surrender. Dragon Queen Enchanted Forest pregnancy AU.


_Notes:_

 _All the chocolates and wine for Wapwani for helping me through every point where I got stuck, world building with me and letting me share her ideas about Enchanted Forest politics and dragons._

 _Huge thanks to miri_cleo and queen of refinement for their comments and assistance._

 _Regina and Maleficent's love child is just too much fun to resist and I wanted to explore what their relationship would have been like if M_ _al came to her for help when Regina was at her darkest._

 _Spoilers for episode 4x20 "Mother"._

 _Descriptions of vomiting and childbirth._

* * *

She's naked without her staff, unarmed and weary. It's already broken, because Regina took the Dark Curse, but she's kept the stick and its silver dragon headpiece because they are hers, yet cannot help her. For once, magic can't aid her and no amount of dragon's strength can get her out of this position.

She should have suspected Regina would lead to pain. Beautiful women often do and as long as she's lived, Maleficent should know better than to fall for anyone, especially someone like Regina. Yet from the moment Regina walked into her castle, so timid but unafraid, Maleficent knew she was special. How special, she couldn't have truly understood, and maybe doesn't even now. It's complicated falling in love when humans are so brief and beautiful, like a perfect spring afternoon that can't possibly last.

Ursula and Cruella, her last allies, can't help her. Snow White and her prince, the heroes, have refused to aid her against the queen. Regina's preparing the Dark Curse; the taste of it hangs like a summer storm, and the air's thick with anticipation. She won't touch her belly and whisper to the child deep within that she'll protect her. She won't lie to this sleeping little life and promise that she will know a world free from the Dark Curse. There's so little she can do to stop it, and she's so tired, so she won't fight.

She walks to the gate of Regina's castle, hands at her sides. The black guards level arrows at her chest and whisper her name as if she's the devil made flesh. She only holds up her hands. "I surrender."

They don't believe her, even when they've searched her for weapons, running their rough hands over her body. They retreat like scared rats if she moves too quickly so she's still as stone, for her child. All of this, all humiliations are worth it, for her daughter. She's unarmed, carries no magical amulets, no spells, and no scrolls. She can shift her body into the dragon at any moment but nothing they have can stop that. Regina has no magic that can keep her in her human form, unless she's invented some.

This time, the dragon can't help her, because even as the mightiest of beasts, she'll still be subject to the horror of the Dark Curse. She walks forward down Regina's dark corridors, spearpoints against her back, swords drawn at her sides, and chains around her wrists. She takes all of it, accepts every sneer, because it is for her daughter. Their daughter. She didn't think the child could know Regina, didn't think it would work, but she has to try. If she can't save her, maybe Regina can. Maybe she will, if there is still some of her left.

There must be.

Her entourage of guards march her into Regina's chamber, circling her with steel.

"The sorceress, Maleficent," one of them announces through his mask. "She has surrendered, your majesty."

Regina, dark, terrible Regina, doesn't even turn in her chair, leaving Maleficent to stare at her bare back wrapped in black leather. "Leave us."

They shuffle away, retreating like the insects they are before their queen. Regina still doesn't turn, making her wait and watch.

"You don't need those," Regina says, waving open the irons on her wrists so they fall to the floor.

"Don't I?" Maleficent asks, staring amused at the chains lying near her feet.

"You know as well as I that they were for show." Regina stands, leaving her drink. "Something to comfort my soldiers." She turns, and her familiar eyes, those beautiful brown eyes, are hard and cold.

"What do you want? You'll never get the Dark Curse from me and I'm disappointed that you're here to try. I didn't want to kill you before, but now-" She stops and fire blooms in her hand.

"Don't," Mal begs, holding up her empty hands. "Please."

Regina raises her eyebrows and the eyes beneath are cold. "Please?"

"That's not enough?" she asks, staring at the woman she loves who must be buried somewhere beneath this mask of pain and hatred. Pulling up her heavy skirt, Maleficent falls to her knees on the marble floor. "Please, your majesty, allow me audience."

Smiling like a serpent, Regina watches her plead. "To what end? For you to tell me how horrifying the Dark Curse is? How it will hollow me out and leave me a shell of myself?"

Maleficent shakes her head, takes a breath, reminds herself that beneath Regina's anger, lies that woman, the one full of hope, who gave her the daughter in her belly. This is for her: everything is for her. "I'm here to beg."

"For yourself?" Regina strides towards her, reaching for her cheek. "How quaint. The dragon has learned a new trick."

Regina's cold fingers stroke her jaw and she has to hold herself back from leaning into it because she wants to be with her again. She'd give anything to be with her again, to hold her, to lie next to her and listen to her breathing in the darkness.

"I'm not begging for me," she says as Regina's nails dig into her neck.

"Oh?" Regina's laugh cuts into her stomach, cold and cruel. "So whom is this about? Me? You're actually trying to save me from myself?"

Maleficent holds her gaze even as Regina's nails sink deep into her skin. "Not you, my dear. I'm here to beg for your daughter."

That finally makes Regina pause. "My what?" She pulls her face closer, leaning in until they're almost kissing.

Remembering the taste of her lips stings like poison in Maleficent's throat. Tears burn and threaten to escape from her eyes but Regina's only gleam with pain and fury in response. "Your daughter, Regina, the one you've given me."

Regina drops her cheek, then backhands her face, glaring. "That's not possible."

"I'm pregnant," Maleficent explains, tasting blood. Her tears are free now, coursing down her face as Regina pulls her hand back to hit her again.

"As I said, that's not possible." This time Regina uses her open palm, striking hard enough for Maleficent's tears to fly from her skin.

Blood trickles from her nose, and she lets it fall to the stone beneath them. "And yet it occurred."

Regina paces, striding across the room, caged and furious to cover her agony. "I burnt that possibility to ash and salted the earth, so to speak." She glances down at her own belly, flat and perfect beneath her corset. Her eyes are liquid fire, molten and desperate. "Your child, if there is a child, cannot be mine."

It hits her like being dropped into the icy sea, Regina used the infertility potion, the one that cannot be undone. She took her own chance for a child and made it ash. Maleficent can't imagine why she'd do it, and the naked agony in Regina's eyes suggests her mother was involved, because no one else has ever cut her that deeply.

"Oh Regina-" Maleficent's control falters and she wants to hold her, to promise Regina that the monster who is her mother cannot hurt her anymore. She forgets, only for a moment, that she's here to protect the baby who does not yet exist, yet will, because she feels her stirring, already affecting her magic from within her.

"I don't need you, or your lies, and I certainly don't require your pity." Regina raises her hand again, but instead of another blow, she sends Maleficent away, down to the dungeons of her castle, where fire crackles amid the damp straw and the stink of festering flesh.

* * *

The cell is cold, and the stone closes her in, heavy and damp. The guards take her dress, ripping it with daggers and their bare hands because no prisoner of the queen may wear anything so fine. They leave her sackcloth, ragged and already old and she wears it for Regina, because this is the price of trust. She can wait. At least, she will try, but it's cold and if she weren't pregnant she could find the heat to keep warm, but for some reason their daughter takes so much energy. She curls up in the filthy straw and the fleas from the last inhabitant of the decrepit cell scurry over her but she waits, because she must. All this is endurable.

Regina, or her guards, take pleasure in the bad food and the dank conditions. If it weren't for the rats, she'd barely be able to sleep, but they're meat and easy enough to catch, so this too she will survive. At least she tries, but Regina's daughter lies within her and she will not tolerate their diet of rats, stale bread and gruel. It was hard enough to govern her body in her own castle, where she was safe, here she retches into the corner of her cell and the eyes of the guards roam over her bare shoulders.

* * *

She weakens. Not enough to endanger the child, not yet, but she's running out of time, out of resources, out of ways to wait, because their daughter is already so hungry, so demanding of her strength. She may have to flee before she loses the ability to do so, admit her defeat and try to keep the child safe as long as she can before the curse takes them all to that place of unspeakable horror.

She's lost all track of time when Regina visits, doesn't even realise that it's her until she realises that the boots standing before her cell, as she retches up half-digested rat once again, are delicate leather, finely polished.

"Prison does not suit you, my friend," Regina says in mocking sympathy, kneeling before her so their faces are level. Maleficent can't recall the last time she saw her own reflection, or brushed her hair, because Regina's taken her time coming down here. She must have thought she would have left by now.

Maleficent's not even sure that she has the strength left to teleport away. She'll probably have to fight many of the guards before she has enough space to become the dragon.

"I can survive prison," Maleficent replies. "It's your daughter that's the difficult one."

Regina's mask falters and she's human for the briefest of moments. "That's not-"

"Tell me, your majesty, what do you know of dragons?" She retreats to the softer hay that she's made her bed and Regina follows her outside the door. "Do you know what it takes for us to even conceive a child? How rare it is for that to occur with one of our own kind, let alone with a-"

"A monster?" Regina interrupts, drawing on her hatred and self-loathing to protect herself the only way she can.

"A human," Mal finishes for her, curling up in her awful nest. Lying on her side, even with her knees up against her stomach, must have given something away, because Regina's gaze falters. She sees something. Has the child begun to show? How long has she been here? "Ask your dear mentor Rumplestiltskin. See if he'll explain it to you." She shuts her eyes and lets Regina watch her tears. It takes love to conceive a child. Dragons are the prickliest and least amicable of beasts. Their immortality is tempered by their inability to stand each other's company. So few dragons can put aside their egos long enough to let a fragile human get close to them, but if they do- the consequences are all encompassing.

* * *

Regina's back the next night to watch her sleep. Perhaps to see if she'll try to escape, but she doesn't. Perhaps she no longer can. She could summon the dragon to protect her child, but she's not sure how long she'd stay on her feet and flying is entirely out of the question. The next morning though, the food is a little better and she keeps it down. The rat who wanders through her cell that night gets a reprieve.

Regina still won't speak to her, but her food improves to the point where she can mostly keep it down. She doesn't know if Regina watches her through her mirror, but the blanket that arrives after one particularly cold night is much appreciated. Tiny things appear near her cell, scraps of books, then an entire dogeared volume, bound in mouldy leather. She reads it before she allows herself the pleasure of burning it for warmth because she's already counted all the cracks in the wall and her mind's starting to slip away from her. She's not meant to be caged, Regina knows this perhaps more than she does, but she will not fight. This time, she surrenders.

Dredging up her reserves of patience, as well as strength, because her daughter grows, and she can't get enough food, or stay warm, and the thin, worn fabric over her belly's starting to cling to a roundness that was not there when Regina threw her into this cell. The physicality of her daughter makes it easier, because she's here, real, something she can touch, so she waits.

Regina finally finds the book that tells her the truth about dragons one frigid night when the wind howls around the walls of the castle. Maleficent has a second blanket now, but it's not enough because her daughter, Regina's daughter, needs so much of her energy, and she shivers beneath it, curled as tightly as she can be around her belly.

"I found this old, obviously unreliable, volume in my library," Regina says without pretence, pacing in front of her cell. Once again, Maleficent has no idea how long it's been, but she must look worse, because Regina's struggling to keep up her uncaring veneer. "It has some information about your kind which is of questionable accuracy."

"If I told you it was true, you wouldn't believe me," Mal replies, forcing herself to sit up. The wall's too cold, and her teeth start to chatter, but she won't give in to Regina so quickly.

Regina's gloved hands falter against the old tome. "It's not possible."

"The potion you drank," Mal whispers. Her voice is too weak, too quiet and Regina's so impatient that she's through the cell door in a puff of smoke.

"What about it?" Regina wrinkles her nose in disgust, and Maleficent realises just how accustomed she's gotten to the stench of this place.

"You burnt the field and salted the earth, but that potion did nothing for your seed."

Regina raises a hand again and Mal almost welcomes the blow, because it'll come with heat and she's so very cold. This time, Regina doesn't hit her. She holds up the book and leans close, too close. Her lips are so very red. "This book claims that dragons cannot conceive without-" she can't find the last words. "That can't be true."

"Another book will tell you the same."

"Stop-"

"Regina," Mal pauses and runs her tongue over her dry lips, trying to keep her teeth from chattering so that she can speak. "I conceived your child because of my love for you. I didn't think that I had fallen for you. I doubted I ever could, because I haven't opened my heart since Briar Rose crushed it, yet here is the proof of my weakness, and she is yours." She rests a hand on the swell of her belly that is the cause of so much suffering yet brought such small hope. "I don't care what happens to me beneath your curse. I'm not sure I care what happens to me now, but she should be with you, and you with her, even in the new dark world that you're taking us to. Please."

"Don't-"

Maleficent shakes her head, and reaches for Regina's perfect cheek. Her fingers are so dirty that she won't let herself touch her; she holds them above Regina's skin. "It's too late. I love you, and no power of yours, Rumplestiltskin's or even my own, can change that."

"You can't," Regina protests one last time.

Maleficent's dirty fingers and Regina's tears make grey tracks on her face. "Yet I do."

Regina disappears, leaving purple smoke that smells ever so faintly of her. Maleficent clings to that, holding the memory of Regina close until she falls asleep.

* * *

She wakes elsewhere. It's not a cell, at least. The tiny room has a window, though it's high, small, and provides little light. The bed is raised up off the floor and seems to be free from fleas and biting insects, though Mal's skin is still covered with the marks. She can see the little red bumps on her skin because for the first time in weeks she's clean. Her hair's clean, and her skin. It's obviously been achieved through magic, because she slept right through it, so Regina does care.

She lies in the grey dark, listening to the castle wake for the morning. The food they bring her now actually tastes like the animals it once was, instead of slop, and she has her first afternoon without nausea since she realised she was pregnant. Regina doesn't visit, because she won't, not until she's less vulnerable, but a book slides under the door, and the servant girl leaves her a candle and that night when she sleeps, she's finally warm.

* * *

She falls into the void of insubstantial time, eating and sleeping because she's finally no longer cold, the rats are gone and there's as much food as she can eat. Real food, not gruel and bread, but meat, fresh and only slightly cooked, the way she prefers it.

She sees no one, other than the serving girl and she doesn't speak. Never makes a sound. She's left a steady supply of books and the guards around her door don't glare at her. After a few days, perhaps a week, when she's finally herself again, the door's left open and she wanders out.

No spearpoints greet her, and the castle's quiet after all the activity during the day. Regina's revenge is moving forward, changing the world around her. Maleficent isn't sure if it's the curse or if the idiot princess Snow thinks she can stop Regina by force.

After she leaves her room she meets the Butler, a small, frail, grey man, and his eyes are kind, at least, they were once. He doesn't speak to her, not much, but he tells her of the library and the tiny courtyard where she's allowed outside.

Regina's apple tree lives there, lush and beautiful. It vibrates with Regina's magic, smells of her, and it's all she can do not to run to it and hold it tight. Maleficent settles for sitting beneath it, her bare feet on the dirt, reading one of the books from Regina's library.

She catches a glimpse of Regina in dark armour, but the queen does not stop to speak to her.

Perhaps this is the best she can hope for, a soft stalemate where at least her daughter might be safe within Regina's castle. Regina might eventually take pity on the child, who's growing like the apple blossoms that turn to tiny hard fruit on Regina's tree.

Mal's heavier now, less graceful and the soft pink dress Regina gave her to wear has to be let out, again and again, because now that she's warm, all their daughter does is grow.

Twice the serving girl finds her asleep on the floor, trying to be closer to the tiny fire because she needs the heat, and then her room changes again while she sleeps. She wakes in a larger room, perhaps a guard's room or that of a smith because it's over the forge. She sleeps through the hammering of steel and iron because there's finally enough heat and she doesn't shiver through the night.

The Butler comes more than the girl after that, bringing more food because it seems that she cannot eat enough. In the warm room, her belly swells faster and the pink dress is replaced with one of pale blue that fits loosely. She's given more freedom, if only because the castle is so very empty and Regina must be gone with her army.

* * *

The summer grows warmer, but her room always has a fire. She needs the heat, craves it, can't be away from it because she freezes once the sun sinks below the horizon. The Butler leaves her another blanket, then furs, because she still shivers in the warm summer nights.

She finally creeps down into the forge itself one night, because she needs the heat. The queen's blacksmiths stare at her but leave her alone. She stays out of their way as they make weapons and armour, stacking the needs of an army behind her. They work through the night, which suits her because the heat from the forge is the only thing that's made her warm enough.

By morning, the smiths change shifts and she creeps away, seeking the sun. The servant with her breakfast finds her beneath the queen's apple tree. Lifting the metal lid, Maleficent finds that this time the kitchen has sent a raw hunk of horseflesh, that of a stallion, by the scent of it. She stares at it for quite some time before she realises what a gift she's been given.

It's so fresh that it's vibrant red-blue, nicer than anything she's been sent in weeks. She should probably leave the castle, spread her wings and hunt, but the Dark Curse looms over everything and she's not sure how well she can defend herself in her current state. Her balance for flying will most certainly be off, and she's so tired that she doesn't dare take off and test it.

She's afraid, and realising that is worse than admitting that she enjoys the meat the queen's hunters bring her, that it's gotten better since she was released from the dungeons, and better still since her pregnancy became so obvious. Regina still might not trust her, but she can feel her care in these small gestures. She is safer here, so is their daughter.

She's spoken to so rarely in her time here that she jumps when a voice addresses her. "The rest of the animal is being cured for you, but I thought you might prefer to sear piece this yourself," Regina says, appearing from the shadows where the morning sun has yet to touch to the stones.

"Thank you," she replies and her own voice is thick and unfamiliar, as if she's forgotten how to speak.

Regina nods, ever regal and reserved, and leaves her to eat alone. The scent of her lingers, carrying over even that of the rich blood of the horse. She wants Regina the way she wants the heat, and for the first time in weeks, her stomach tenses. Maleficent fears her nausea has returned because her stomach seems so tight, but it passes. Can she crave Regina's touch, her presence, like warmth or fresh meat? Is it possible to need someone so much that their presence seems like a physical requirement?

She's left alone in the Queen's garden and falls asleep in the warm sun as it reflects on warm stones. She's utterly defeated by the heat, as captive as a house cat, but it can't just be the sun, it's Regina, because the scent of her and her magic flows through the apple tree and all that surrounds it.

How can she need this too? She thought Regina's proximity in the castle would be enough to feed their daughter, though she can tell whenever Regina's absent because the warmth retreats from the air, no matter where she tries to find it. It must be the child, needing the presence, the magic, of the woman who made her. Maleficent can't give the child within her Regina's touch, or the taste of her magic, so she gives her own strength, and nearly all of her magic.

She dreams of Regina, standing over her in the sun. The light haloes her dark hair, leaving hints of gold around her head. She doesn't smile, she can't, but she lingers. Somehow, through her dream, Mal's exhaustion fades. The hunger she can't placate eases, just a little, and when she wakes at sunset there's another book on the stone by her. It's old, but well cared for, not forgotten like most of the tomes that she's been left.

A simple black ribbon holds a place, and she opens it. The runes are ancient and even Regina, skilled as she is, must have struggled to read them because it's an old tongue, one of dragons. The book is a history of her kind, written by a distant relative of Maleficent's who was nearly disowned by her people before they realised that having a few humans who genuinely understood them was an asset. The page it has been left open to wrenches her heart when she reads it.

Regina knows all that there is written about the pregnancy of dragons, how rarely it occurs, and how the incredible cost is meant to be shared between mates, not borne by one alone.

"I didn't think she could be mine," Regina says from the shadows. She's not in her armour for once, and she resembles Mal's beloved Regina of memory, with her hair down. "I thought you were lying, that you had to be mistaken, taken another lover- And then you were so weak without me. I abhor weakness of any kind, and I thought you must as well, but then I began to lose you, and I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let you lose your-" she swallows and takes a step out of the darkness. "Our baby. I spent so much time staying away from you, keeping my distance, that now whenever I'm near you, your body changes so quickly, and yet you're still so hungry. I know how you must feel or we wouldn't be here, but I can't, I can't. The dark curse-"

"I don't want to take your revenge," Mal promises, hands up once again in surrender. "I just want our daughter to be safe."

"And she will be, if I'm with you," Regina says, taking another step towards her. Magic hums between them and somehow she's hungry for Regina's very presence: her skin against hers, the taste of her lips, because she needs all of her. "Whenever I watch you sleep, or bring you food, you're stronger, and she's stronger. She needs me, doesn't she?"

What's she supposed to say? How can she possibly react? They both need Regina, and the ache of being near her, without touching her, threatens to vibrate into agony. She clings to the warm stone of the rail around the tree, letting that keep her up. Regina reaches for her tentatively and even the gentlest touch on the skin of her shoulder makes her body quiver, as if a spark has been caught between them, threatening to ignite.

Regina closes in, then she's too near, her magic too palpable, and Maleficent has no strength left to resist. Her hand brushes her cheek, then her neck, and magic courses between them, feeding their daughter in a way mere food never could. Regina gasps, starts to pull herself back, but Maleficent stumbles forward, and then she's in her arms, wrapped in the warmth of Regina's touch because she's like the sun and she can't pull away. She's too weak, and Regina lowers them down gently, protecting their child as they sink to the ground together.

Her head lies in Regina's lap, with stone beneath them. One of Regina's hands curls around her neck and the other slips past her breasts to rest on her belly. Magic crackles, catching flame and she moans in surprise because it's good, like nothing she's ever felt. Regina's more than the sun, more than fire, she's the fury behind the storm. The moan that slips from Maleficent's lips sounds like a different kind of release.

"I tried to cast the Dark Curse last night," Regina murmurs. Her hand traces the thin barrier of flesh between their daughter and the outside world. "I thought I loved Rocinante enough, he's always been with me, but the Dark Curse wants more. It'll need the heart of my father, or yours, and as much as I want my revenge-" Her fingers dance over Maleficent's unprotected heart, and she could have it, in a breath it could be in her hand and Mal would struggle to begrudge her, because it's already Regina's property.

"After the baby arrives-" she starts to offer, because the child is what matters, and if Regina needs a heart…

"No," Regina whispers, shaking her head. "You were right about that curse, whomever wrote it is far more evil than you or I. Perhaps I don't want to be the person who casts that upon the land." She lowers her mouth, brushing across Maleficent's lips in a way that runs over her like rain. "I don't know what I can be to you, as I am unsure what's left of me, but you've suffered enough. This is our child, and we should raise her together."

* * *

Regina's army is nearly as efficient as the curse, and she chips away at what had been George's kingdom, taking it in pieces like a sculptor with marble. It only takes a few nights in Regina's bed, wrapped in her arms, for the terrible drain to ease. In a week, Maleficent has magic again. Regina laughs when she realises that Mal's efforts to make fire are as weak as Regina's once were. So much of her has gone into their child that even Regina's naked skin against hers only brings her magic back in glimmers.

Regina needs the dragon, because she's still waging her war against Snow and Charming and even having a dragon appear on her side of the field should frighten the opposing army enough to drive them back. Mal wants to be able to help, and their daughter will be safer with this war over, but it takes everything she has to become the dragon again. She's an empty threat, standing behind Regina on the battlefield and breathing fire into the air. Regina makes a true show of it, pretending that she holds so dangerous a beast on a short leash and without her control, Maleficent will destroy Snow and Charming's lands in a rain of fire.

Mal's never understood these tedious acts of negotiation, trading lands back and forth. Humans have always lived around her castle, and they've ignored her as she's ignored them, to their mutual benefit. Mal never bothered to tax or govern them, but no one dared attack them with a dragon in the vicinity. Regina formally joins their kingdoms, turning Maleficent's wild lands into a source of supplies for her ever-growing army. It means little enough to her, because she's consumed with Regina's scent, the taste of her skin, and the touch of her hands on her sore breasts in Regina's bed. She never saw having a child as a joyful thing, never thought she'd be pleased by the prospect, but the way Regina touches her belly, the way she smiles so shyly when they risk discussing the future, is beautiful enough that Maleficent forgets the weeks of rats and straw.

The more time she spends with Regina, the stronger she grows, so she follows her like a silent shadow, listening to her plans, and her tedious affairs of state. Humans are so complicated with their systems of law and values. It must be because there are so many of them, and that their lives are so short. Maleficent's barely seen another dragon in the last century, and she doesn't know if her brothers and sisters still live. Regina makes her dress in black and red when she's seen, and paints her eyes and lips so she's the sorceress Regina needs to summon the necessary fear. Regina's soldiers follow her proudly, loyal through terror and some kind of trust, because she is intelligent, and the battlefield spills its secrets easily to her.

It's not until they retreat from everyone else that they are themselves again. Regina starts using the baths with her, and they hide together, in hot water and clouds of steam, where neither of them needs to instil fear. Weeks in Regina's bed have restored some of her strength, and Regina suggests that she hunt along the borders of Snow's lands, making her presence known through stolen sheep and cattle. Mal doesn't eat half of what she takes, leaving many of the carcasses to the wolves and the villagers, but she understands that her presence, falling from the sky like death on scaled wings, adds to Regina's political manoeuvres. Fed well, their child grows within her, moving in the night while Regina sits awake in the starlight. She'd give up the war, because her heart's no longer full of revenge, but they don't know they'll be safe. Leaving the Dark Curse in her vault, uncast, has gone against Rumplestiltskin's carefully laid plans and he punishes them by turning the ogres to the side of Snow and Charming.

Regina kisses her and promises that she doesn't have to take the field. Regina's burnt ogres before, she can take them all down in a deadly rain of fireballs, and the surety that she promises that is what makes Mal take to the air with her. She won't let Regina fight alone. Ogres are stupid, and their missiles are slow. They throw tree trunks and boulders her way, and if her body was her own, avoiding them would be easy, but she's slower with their daughter within her. Regina sits astride her neck, staring down at the carnage as they burn the Dark One's ogres together. It's a waste of life, but he's riled them up in a way that they can't appease, and letting Regina's army face them will lead to so much more death.

Regina's dark armour glints in the setting sun as they quit the battlefield, leaving the massacred ogres behind them.

It takes them most of the evening to wash off the stench of burned flesh, and for once Maleficent's not hungry. Regina traces water droplets over the swollen skin of her belly and whispers to their daughter that someday soon she'll see the sky. Regina's army withdraws to what she plans to be their new borders, and she speaks of negotiating again, because there is little else that Snow and Charming can throw at them. They lay together in the dark, naked and content, because maybe, just this once, they've won.

They're not supposed to win, but the field of smoking ogres says otherwise. Regina still worries, staring up at the ceiling and thinking of her old mentor, now turned enemy.

Regina's lips press into her neck. "She's quiet tonight." Their daughter has been still, perhaps she felt the flight, shared her mothers' elation and bloodlust. She lies still and heavy within Mal's belly, not kicking in response to Regina's touch as she usually does. Mal smiles through her sleep, and Regina curls around her. She's lost track of so much time, that it doesn't occur to her how many moons have passed overhead and the simple reality that their daughter cannot stay within her forever. Regina's with her, and for the moment, all is safe, so she lets worry go and basks in the warmth of Regina's touch.

* * *

Regina wakes her from the sunshine, gently dragging her out of sleep because she's ready to work her plan and Maleficent is part of it. She doesn't gladly attend Regina's planning meetings where they move little pieces across maps because they're boring and she doesn't have much to offer. Strategy is not her strong suit and she's used one tactic most of her life and it's worked so far. She begged out of this one because she's tired. She's so heavy with child now that Regina's generals raise their eyebrows when Regina's battle plans still include her yet they know better than to question their queen.

Maleficent doesn't feel as strange when she's in dragon form, and the physicality of carrying their daughter is different in her other body. Their daughter doesn't shift with her, she won't yet, so she's much smaller and there's no swollen belly to hide while she's the dragon, but their baby makes her presence known even then. Mal feels her move and knows when she's sleeping. After her quiet night, their daughter's in a mood (she's Regina's after all) and she squirms within, distracting her mother as she tries to shift.

She kisses Regina because that makes it easier to do anything, even change form, and tries to ignore the twisting of her daughter. It's almost painful now, not quite, definitely uncomfortable and she hides that from Regina because her plans are always timely. If Regina worries, she won't send her.

Luckily, it's a simple trip. Mal needs to burn the borders between their lands and Stefan's, showing their strength while the bulk of Regina's army masses to the south, along the borders between their kingdom and Snow White's.

Calling up the dragon, she shifts, and then it is easier to breathe. Regina strokes her muzzle, then Mal takes to the sky. The air's thick with the promise of late summer rain, and that makes it easier to stay aloft. Burning the borders is merely a show of force, rubbing Stefan's nose in the power of the dragon.

She stops and bleeds a deer, sucking it dry before she lifts it in her claws. She'll leave it at one of the villages, because they always appreciate the easy meat. Mal thought she was hungry, but only the blood tastes good. The rest is too heavy. Her stomach churns, and again, it's almost painful. It'll pass, she reminds herself, but she wants Regina to tell her it's all right.

She only has to circle the last piece of the border along the river, and she stops, twice because Regina's daughter demands her attention to the point where she doesn't trust herself to fly. No one sees her, so she can take the time to catch her breath. She can't be sure what's happening, and she won't consider what it could be, must be. Not without Regina at her side.

By the time she returns, the sun's setting behind dark clouds. Regina meets her on the roof of one of the towers, scratching Mal's muzzle again and whispering her affection. The borders are holding, Stefan's forces have been scared Into submission for the moment, and Snow's army is quiet.

They may be able to reach some kind of accord, Regina believes Snow will decide that her people would benefit from an end to hostilities any day now. She strokes Mal's eyebrow ridge and promises that she's safe to shift back. The dragon's done her work, and she's home now.

There's sweat in her hair when she creeps back into human form. For once, she's not cold in her human skin.

"You're flushed," Regina says, reaching for her cheek. "Are you all right?"

"Exhilarated," Mal teases her and then rests her head on Regina's shoulder. "I saw no soldiers and I left the villagers on the north river a deer."

Regina smirks; Mal's gifts remind her of the cats who moused in the stables when she was young because she means well but a carcass is not always the most welcome find. "Come on, you must be hungry."

Maleficent stops, her hand on Regina's arm."I'm not."

"Since when are you not hungry?" Regina asks, her voice as light as the first few drops of rain.

"I don't know," she admits, tightening her grip. She knows what this is, and as does Regina, but she's not ready, she doesn't know how to face this. The queen at least, is unphased.

"Well then," Regina says, leading her down from the roof. "It's starting to rain."

She digs her fingers into Regina's arm again, on the spiralling stairs downward off the roof and the soft sound of surprise, not quite pain, not yet, escapes her throat.

Regina stops them, reaching for her face. She holds her chin in her hand, looking up at her: accepting, unafraid. "You were gone too long, my love." Her magic takes them, sweeping away the corridor, bringing them into her chambers in a fog of purple smoke.

"I followed the river," she replies.

Regina leads her hands to the back of the chair and rests them there, helping Mal keep her balance. Nodding, she unlaces the back of Mal's dress, taking the pressure off her back. but it doesn't cease with the release of the fabric. It still hurts, and she can use the descriptor properly now because it aches, this tightening of her muscles. Regina's warm hands rest along her spine and it fades.

The rain quickens outside and Regina leaves her just long enough to speak with her servants. Mal studies her fingers on the back of Regina's chair. They dig into the velvet, the wood, and if they were claws she'd have marked it, deep. She can bear this pain, this tightening of her back; her belly. It was only twinges before, something she could ignore because she was the dragon, but this fragile body feels more deeply.

Regina returns, stroking her back, murmuring that everything is fine, she's safe and she wants to laugh because the flimsy creatures who guard Regina's castle aren't even a threat to her but tonight they'll have to keep her safe because her body has other responsibilities. Regina passes her wine mixed with honey and water, then drinks from the goblet, sharing it with her. Maleficent watches her lips, letting them draw her focus. Her breath's too short again and she misses the freedom of expanding her lungs in an uncrowded chest. When did their daughter grow so large?

Regina takes her hands from the back of the chair, even though Mal digs those fingers into her hands far too harshly, but her Regina has a strength of her own. The rain spatters against the window, the sky darkens, deepens, like the pain in her belly. The servants build the fire, but it's not the heat that covers her skin with moisture. Again, Regina touches her face, chasing the sweat away with a handkerchief.

"Look at me," she commands, her voice as soft as the thunder outside. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Maleficent shakes her head, pacing with her hands pressed into her lower back. "Do you know how many sorcerers, conjurers, would kill for the child of a dragon?"

"None that will survive the attempt, I assure you." The darkness of her little smile settles Mal's heart. Regina's hands follow hers, digging in to her spine where the pain becomes its own kind of heat. Fire has always been her companion, but this threatens to burn her.

Regina makes her drink, makes her walk the cool stone floor, removes her dress when it starts to steam in the heat of the fire, but perhaps it's her who's so wet. Pain is fleeting, momentary, a flash that splits her attention as the lightning cracks the sky, but just like the storm, she's more ruled by the lightning each time it strikes. The soft sounds of pain she once hid in her throat are gasps now, even moans, because this threatens her in a way Regina's dungeon never could.

All things can be endured, she reminds herself, panting into Regina's shoulder.

She doesn't like being so wet, yet water coasts her skin, makes her legs slick. Regina strokes her thigh and her hand comes away pink. Maleficent stares at it, struck dumb while the thunder echoes against the stone walls of Regina's castle. It's only a little blood, nothing to worry her, and she can't think of it, because it's too delicate a thought. She can't make her mind still; can't slow her breath. Regina consults her books, wiping her hands on cloths before she touches the well-worn pages. Leaning over the fireplace, Maleficent lets her fingertips clutch the marble, because the stone is steady in a way she can't trust her legs to be. Steam continues to rise from her skin, echoing the rain as it floats towards the ceiling.

Regina's with her again as her pain grows. "Stay with me," she whispers, gentle, yet iron. "It won't be long."

Regina can't know how intractable their daughter will be, how the pain rises between each heartbeat, turning her throat to desert and her tongue to metal. There's wine and water, and Regina mixes them, warms them, before she coaxes her to drink. She knows how to lift a cup, but her fingers won't listen. They're worse than claws, and perhaps they are claws, because when she grips Regina's hands, even the queen winces.

Mal ignores the biting taste of herbs and the whispers of magic that Regina uses to ease her torment. The storm gives way to rain, hard and unyielding, and the dawn fades to daylight, but the only light she needs is the fire. Servants flit around them, taking the water from the floor. Why is there so much water? Why is it warmer than she is, steaming against her knees?

Regina's hands ease her down, guide her to a chair and part her legs. She's searching, studying, and it's that scholar side that she clings to now, because all of her magic only got them into this swollen world of tightening muscles and aching bones. Regina's hands know her body like no others, but even they can't take her pain.

Weariness creeps into her like the cold, making her shiver. Leaning against Regina, she hears, but doesn't, as Regina gives her orders to her lieutenants, holding the castle fast because the rain's come with a fog, deep and dense and all suspect magic: the Dark One, Cora, or some other horror, rising from the earth to steal their child. Fear tastes worse than pain, and Regina's words can soften it, but even she won't be able to hold it back forever.

Only Regina refuses to yield to the pain that keeps taking her, washing over Maleficent like waves in an unending sea. She's never liked the water, and this she loathes because pain takes her breath like drowning and Regina has to keep bringing her back. She whispers, and sings, nothing with words that Maleficent knows: these are childhood songs and poems. Mal's not even sure she understands anymore because her own ability to communicate in more than snarls and grunts has drowned in her pain.

Time passes for Regina, and the servants come and go with fresh straw for the floor and firewood, but it's stopped. Maleficent is certain that it has stopped for her and their daughter, leaving them in this place of hell until she can crawl out of it. Regina holds her head, braids back her hair, whispers and promises, without leaving her side. She smells of leather, of books and wine. Regina's almost enough to bury the stench of sweat and blood, and Mal clings to her with all her senses.

Ursula and Cruella arrive later. They were summoned, Cruella complains. Ursula brings the familiar scent of brine, and her soft hands are like Regina's. Cruella's all furs and penetrating eyes but their presence is just a dream. Everything but Regina is a feverish hallucination, because only she feels real.

Perhaps that's why Regina refuses to leave her, even as darkness falls again and it's night that brings it, not the storm. Has it been the whole span of a day? Regina's beloved face is pale, her eyes dark with worry, but she's not without hope. Not yet. It'll take more than blood and sweat to drown a dragon. Maleficent isn't sure what of her is left, because the dragon is too stubborn, but part of her is this body. This part of her bleeds, staining Regina's hands.

She struggles to swallow the potion Regina offers her, and she spits it back up a moment later because her body's too overrun. Even breath is a struggle, because she hasn't been this tired. Regina's delicate, strong fingers run over her belly, her back, reminding her naked skin that she's not alone. She's never been alone, not through all of this.

"I'd hold your pain, or give you my strength, if I could," Regina whispers, her mouth against Maleficent's ear. "I can't, so you must stay with me, because I refuse to lose you. You must stay, so you have to fight."

"I came to surrender," she murmurs back, half choking on her words.

Regina lifts her head, making Mal see her through eyes clouded with exhaustion. "I won't," she promises. "Not you."

She'd forgotten about sight, about the taste of fear on Regina's lips. For so long, all that she's known was Regina's hands, the warmth of her skin, and she's still here. All of her, even the heart that beats stronger than Maleficent's own. That is why she came, to seek shelter in that indomitable heart, to let her own quake with fear and doubt, to give herself shelter to suffer. Pain is a journey, and like all but the last, it must end. Regina won't let her surrender and it's her she holds, her that she follows like a blinding star.

Tearing, splitting, shaking, her body finally surrenders as completely as her soul. Regina's eyes grow wide in surprise, in wonder, because there's wet dark hair between Regina's fingertips. It's life, not stone or steel, that breaks her, opens her, then spills itself forth. Their daughter lies in Regina's arms, a slimy, still little thing, still tied to her with a cord of flesh.

Regina strokes her face, blows air across that tiny nose, and her fists flail in anger. She cries like a dragonling, angry about her cold, abrupt exit into the world of light. Her skin fades from grey to pink, and her tiny feet kick in the air. Clutching her to her chest, Regina smiles in a way Maleficent's never seen, with all her armour, all her control, fallen away from her heart.

Mal's weary hands rub their daughter's head, stroking her skin. Regina tries to pass her over and Mal shakes her head because she can't trust herself yet. She's too weak, and Regina's still her strength. Their daughter's anger fades, and perhaps she can sense them, smell them. Regina dries her with her shirt, holding her close against her breasts. Mal's body slowly remembers how it is not to vibrate with agony, and instead she aches. She's as fragile as an eggshell, but their daughter is strong.

Guiding her hands, Regina slips her arms around them both, holding their daughter to Maleficent's chest so she doesn't have to trust her own strength.

"Look at her," she begs. "Look at her."

Maleficent's eyes are weary, but she breathes in their daughter, memorising her scent as she squirms and snuffles against her swollen breasts.

Regina cleans them both, sending the mess of birth away with a gentle wave of her hands. They'll give the afterbirth to one of Regina's trees, let their daughter have an apple tree that stands beside her mother's own. She wants them up in the bed, but Mal's not certain her legs will ever work again, or if she even cares.

Then the door creaks inward, forced open, not by Regina's servants, or even her guards, but the Princess Snow White, dressed in gleaming armour. Regina stands between her and their daughter, trembling on exhausted legs, still marked in the blood of birth.

The sound worries the baby and she screams her fear. Maleficent can barely move her arms to comfort her, nor fight, and becoming the dragon is a distant memory. She can't even lift her hands to surrender, nor spare the strength to wonder how Snow and her prince got through the guards.

Tearing a pouch from around her neck, Regina throws that into the fire. Vile smoke, thick with black, and green, reaches out with creeping tentacles. The hunger of it pulls at all of them, demanding tribute.

Snow's shocked eyes explain that she didn't expect the mess, or to have Regina's daughter cry through her demands. "Surrender, Regina. You've lost."

"I won't let you hurt them," Regina promises, her voice soft but clear. "I won't let you take my daughter."

"It's too late for the Dark Curse," Snow threatens her, her sword still held high. "The fairies have neutralised your army, even the Sea Bitch and the Witch of the animals. You've lost."

Regina kneels beside her, stroking their daughter, and the pain written in her eyes is deeper than anything Maleficent has fought through. This will be their end then, Regina will take Maleficent's heart to fuel the Dark Curse. Their daughter will be safe.

Mal whispers her love, and her acceptance of her fate. Their daughter will live, with Regina in a new world, free from the swords of these heroes. She doesn't shut her eyes, because she'll never be afraid of Regina, and waits for the shock of her heart being torn free. Instead, Regina tears her own from her chest and presses it into Maleficent's trembling hand.

"I love you," she promises, kissing her so that their tears fall united on their daughter. "Cast the curse."

"No," Mal begs her, unable to summon the strength to force Regina's heart back into her. Her hands won't move and she doesn't have anything left to stop Snow White and her knight.

"If you take one more step, Maleficent will cast the curse," Regina promises, standing between her little family and Snow's blade. "The Dark Curse will sweep all of you away to another realm, and my family will be safe."

Mal clings to Regina's heart, feeling it pulse in her hand. She was ready to give her life, not Regina's. Her life would have been fair, she's already surrendered, but the choice lies with Snow. Live with her enemies, or let Regina make her sacrifice.

"You'd do this?" Snow asks, and her sword wavers. "You'd die for revenge."

"For my family," Regina corrects, lowering her hands in defeat. "I'll die for them."

Their daughter still cries, high and piercing, as if she knows how fragile the promise of her life has become. Maleficent staggers to her knees, holding only their daughter and Regina's heart between her nude skin and Snow's naked blade.

"She's your daughter?" Charming asks, his eyes wide with confusion. "Maleficent's child is yours?"

"Dragons need to be in love," Snow whispers, and her blade drops. She sheathes the sword. Of course she knows, she was educated as a princess.

Regina runs to Maleficent, still protecting her and the baby with her body, even without her own heart in her chest.

The white princess drops her own hand to her belly, and her child beneath, staring at the scene before her. "You're not Regina's weapon."

Maleficent nuzzles Regina's cheek, then kisses her, because this might be the last time they touch, and she will remember these lips.

"I will be hers if you force her hand," Regina reminds them, defiant, even with tears streaking down her chin. "You chose, Snow. We make peace now, you and I, or Maleficent makes it with the Dark Curse."

Snow nods, and reaches for her love, not to make him fight, but to take his hand. "I knew you'd be a wonderful mother."

Regina trembles, but stands firm, and the heart in Mal's hand beats all the harder. She won't lose her, can't lose her, and not even the baby dares break the silence.

"We'll send an emissary with terms," Snow announces, looking from the newborn baby to Regina, her face soft with emotion. "In a few days, so you can be with your child."

Nodding once, Regina takes a step back, then kneels beside Maleficent and her glowing heart. Mal barely has the strength to return it home, but they do it together, and she's not sure which of them is crying harder as they embrace around their child.

* * *

Snow and Charming retreat victorious, and perhaps in this all of them have finally won. There's no more fighting, no more massing of armies between Regina's kingdom and theirs. Maleficent watches Regina sign the peace treaty from her side. Lily does too, in a way, though she barely lifts her eyes from Mal's breast. Regina's army is dissolved, and she turns their armour to farming tools, promising that they will not need to fight again, if she can help it.

Their Lily grows in peace, playing beneath her mother's tree and laughing in the throne room while Regina rules her lands. They send gifts to celebrate the birth of her counterpart, the Princess Emma, who will inherit not a war, or an army to oppose them, but a flourishing land of farmers and shepherds. Lily will have to learn Regina's wisdom and patience for peace, not her gift for war, and when she meets the little princess dressed in white, they stare at each other as friends and share their toys, not hatred.

Maleficent spends more time rescuing cows from bogs, and starting bonfires for crowds of happy farmers than burning knights. Regina doesn't paint her face to inspire terror, but to bring out her beauty. She's never known a life like this, surrounded by the simple joys of Regina's people, who like nothing more than good wine and a roaring fire. They give Lily a kite when she's old enough to fly one, and teach her what she'll need to know to fly.

The night of the bonfires, Lily sleeps curled up in her own bed, just across their room. Long after sunset, Regina finally crawls in beside Mal, still rich with the scent of the celebration.

"You went to bed early," Regina murmurs, kissing Maleficent's neck. "I thought this was your favourite, watching the people leap over the coals and pledge their affection."

Mal rolls into her arms, stroking Regina's cheek before she kisses her. "I was tired."

"Tired?" Regina asks, raising an eyebrow in the dark.

Smiling, Mal guides Regina's hand down to rest on her belly, deep beneath their quilts. She wasn't sure, not until today, but now she knows. "It seems that I love you, perhaps too much."

Regina flips her on her back, chuckling as tears spring to her eyes. "Truly? That is what you have as an excuse. An overabundance of love?"

"For you, it seemed like the right amount," Mal whispers back. Regina kisses her mouth, then her chin and her neck.

"What will I do with you?"

"Whatever her majesty wishes," Maleficent answers, stroking Regina's breast and losing herself in her deep brown eyes. She surrendered all that she had, long ago.


End file.
